The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic after destroying homes and lives in the biggest cities of India, the deadly virus has shifted its course to rural India. The villages and smaller towns in India are not medically well equipped to fight the disease.
In Basi, 1.5 hours away from Delhi, in about three-quarters of villages, 5,400 people are sick and over 30 have lost their lives in the past three weeks because there are no doctors, healthcare facilities and no oxygen cylinders. And unlike the urban population having access to social media who can appeal on Twitter to strangers who will come for their rescue.
Sanjeev Kumar, the newly elected head of the farming community stated, “Most deaths in the village have been caused because there was no oxygen available. The sick are being rushed to the district headquarters and those extremely sick patients have to travel about four hours.” he added many don’t make it on time and die.
The entire nation is witnessing a similar scene; representatives from over 18 towns and villages in different parts of the country, officials have described the scale of destruction. From entire families wiped out to swollen bodies floating down the Ganges river to farmland left unattended due to a shortage of workers.
The range of the crisis is much bigger than what officials reveal, many people have said, adding that villagers fear to leave their homes even after having fever and local authorities fail to register the number of deaths due to the pandemic.
Anger at Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP government is growing amongst the people for failing to establish better medical infrastructure following a virus wave last year, including ensuring sufficient supplies of oxygen and vaccines. People have decided that they would vote BJP out from Uttar Pradesh. “We had complete support for Modi and Yogi, but now whatever happens we will vote the BJP out,” Sahab Singh, 72, said in the centre of Basi, which was virtually empty. He noted people were too scared to leave their homes.
During the recent elections to elect village heads, several of the poll workers became infected — including Kumarsain Nain, 59, along with his 31-year-old son. Nain after getting serious was rushed to hospital and was declared dead. His brother died in just 30 minutes, at the same time six other patients who were also on oxygen support also were dead.
“Holding the elections when the government knew that cases were rising and the infection was spreading is a criminal act,” one villager said.
Prime minister on May 14 following a meeting with several CMs warned that the virus is spreading faster in villages and assured: “Efforts are being taken to deal with this.”
A senior official with Modi’s BJP defended the polls saying that the states were responsible for building oxygen plants that received federal funding. “It’s not just the prime minister who thought we had overcome the biggest ravages of the corona — the consensus in India by early January was that we had done so,” he said.
“Many of the epidemiologists who are today criticizing are on the record back in October saying the worst was over and that we should not have as many restrictions,” the officer added.
Unemployment, farmers' protest and mismanagement of the ruling government is adding trouble to Modi’s reign.
Delhi leaders are struggling to contain the virus’s spread, horrifying images from the eastern state of Bihar shocked the nation when last week, as many as 70 bloated bodies were seen floating in the Ganges River. These bodies are being suspected to be of covid victims, whom the families were unable to farewell properly.
Crematoriums are overflowing as the death toll rises, ambulances demanding rates that middle and lower-class people couldn’t afford to pay.
Rajesh Sharma who manages a travel company in the Hindu pilgrimage city of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh says both the Union and state governments “have failed us all.”
“India had a full year to prepare, but except for sending vaccines out of the country for personal credit and glory nothing much was done. There are no hospital beds, no medicines. People have been left to die. In Ujjain and around, entire families died in the last two weeks,” Sharma added.
In Punjab, a northern state bordering Pakistan, the local administrations are inviting volunteers among India’s one-million-strong Accredited Social Health Activists to encourage people from every household to get themselves vaccinated and check if anyone has a fever.
This organisation is known for working and helping people in harsh conditions and delivering childhood immunizations and basic first aid to villages. However, one of the workers, Balbir, said that the scale of the present crisis is unprecedented.
Requesting to keep her identity secret fearing backlash from local authorities in the Ludhiana district, one group worker said, “Many people are so scared they are not even telling anyone about their fever.”
“Many people are so scared they are not even telling anyone about their fever,” she said, asking to be identified by only her first name due to fear of a backlash from local authorities in the Ludhiana district, where infections are spreading rapidly.
“Despite such a huge surge, they have still not given us adequate protection: no masks, no gloves, nothing.” Ludhiana and several parts of Punjab have reported the highest fatalities from Covid.
Uttarakhand has witnessed cases almost as huge as 20 times than earlier after the Himalayan state hosted a religious festival called the Kumbh Mela between March 31 and April 24, which was visited by more than nine million people.
“There isn’t a house in Rishikesh where people aren’t sick — Haridwar is also in a similar condition,” said Navin Mohan, who assists in arranging tours to the holy towns on the banks of the Ganges.
“The pandemic is now truly beyond control,” Mohan added.
Also Read: Defer vaccine shot by up to nine months after recovery from Covid19: Govt Panel
Thousands are dying and will die in the next few weeks. The government is fudging numbers, but the reality is visible to everyone.”
The devastation and toll it has on the people losing their loved ones and the disease affected people are beyond repair. Governments and the prime minister must step down accepting their mistakes.